Monday, September 6, 2010

Gotham Book Mart

"Wise Men Fish Here," read the silhouette sign outside the Gotham. It was created by John Held Jr. But I didn't know that when I browsed there frequently in the 1980s, walking up 47th St. from 6th Ave., and always being delighted to see the sign amidst all the hustle and bustle of the Diamond District. An oasis awaited. A good place to pick up small literary journals, books on New York City history, poetry, the movies and movie stars. I believe the cat behind the postage stamp square is an Edward Gorey cat. The best book stores always have a cat or two wandering around.

The Gotham Book Mart closed in 2007. You can read about its glory days here.

2 comments:

Back in the days when the Pasadena post card show was held at the grand old Elks lodge, a man named Andy Brown used to spend three days at various dealers tables looking at post cards. He was famous, inspired reverence, and seemed to be a guest of the show owners, Nick and Roger. It was the same man who used to run the Gotham Book Mart--Didn't know the place had such a history.

My favorite used book store closed a few months ago - Acres of Books in Long Beach Ca. It was 3 warehouses filled with shelves full of wonderful treasures. It had been there for decades and the city suddenly decided they wanted the land. So they bought it from the unwilling owners. There were protests and rallies of unhappy people, including author Ray Bradbury who shopped there. What a waste, it is irreplaceable.